I bought my car in 1975 from the son of the original owner. The car was
purchased from Johnson Pacific Company in Oakland, CA, 3/18/64 and
leased to Sheperd. Tom Sheperd, the owner's son, got the car when he
went away to college at University of California San Diego. When I
bought it from Tom for $582 on 3/28/75, it had broken headlights, a
bent front deck lid, rusty battery box, and it sounded to my water-cooled engine ear like an engine with a blown head gasket. The
speedometer was broken, and the odometer read "47,314." Armed with
Elfrink and John Muir's VW book I rebuilt the engine with new Mahle
P/Cs, camshaft, timing gear, cam followers, 912 pushrods, all bushings,
valves (sodium filled), guides, clutch, oil lines, oil cooler, muffler,
and a heater junction box. I had the case line bored to the 1st oversize, and all rotating parts were balanced in a speed shop.
This car has been my daily driver since then. I had the body repaired
and painted in 1976, but the paint job, nitrocellulose lacquer, was not
a good choice. Roy Nielsen of Autos International reupholstered it in
1978. The odometer has turned over four times. Through the years I have
rebuilt the engine myself one more time after 110,054 miles and then
had it rebuilt three more times. The original crank broke 84,152 miles
after my second rebuild, a victim of Harry Pellow's "gasoline hammer".
The nicest treatment I gave the car was to have it restored by Don
Emory in 1985.
Since this Porsche has been my only car for much of the past 29 years,
I have taken it on many trips...skiing in Utah, mountaineering in the
High Sierras, to the top of Pichaco del Diablo, the highest peak in
Baja which stands at the end of 50 miles of terrible dirt road.
As a reward for its dutiful service, I am putting it into a shop here
in Seattle for a complete restoration. I have a fawn upholstery set
from Autos International, leather for the seats. I will send you photos
of the car as it goes through the restoration. By the way, Vic
Skirmants rebuilt my tranny in 1998.
Bob Bryan
rnbryan@mac.com
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